Monday, October 22, 2012

From time to time, I have asserted that the Lincoln Police Department Records Management System is simply the best police information system I have ever seen (and I have seen quite a few.) The amount of information at a Lincoln police officers fingertips is simply unprecedented, as is the ease of obtaining that information. Although I occasionally see individual applications at other agencies that are impressive, when you consider the total package, there is no way I would trade.

Part of this success is early adoption of information technology. Another key was the selection of an especially flexible and robust operating system and database, OpenVMS and ADMINS. How many software companies do you suppose are still in business after 38 years? There are several other factors I could point to that also contribute to the success of LPD's information technology. The most significant, however, is the fact that the information system was designed from the outset with a laser focus on the end user: police officers. One of the young sergeants who was on the initial design team, Clair Lindquist, continues to work his magic, and continues to enhance and create functionality that never ceases to amaze.

Last week, ADMINS and our Records Management System transitioned to a new hardware platform, a pair of Hewlett Packard Itanium-based Integrity servers. In 1979-80, ADMINS ran on a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP 11/70 mini computer--before the PC was invented. Within a few years, it moved to first of several DEC VAX and HP Alpha servers. You will still hear the LPD Records Management System occasionally referred to as "the VAX," and it is often referred to as "the Alpha." Effective last Saturday, it isn't an Alpha anymore, but I'm betting that term sticks around for a long time anyway.

The cut over had some bumps and bruises, not unusual when you consider the size and complexity of this enterprise, and the sheer number of connections, interfaces and processes that ADMINS touches. Kudos to everyone at LPD and at the City Information Services Division who worked hard on the transition.

7 comments:

Many of the new communcation technologies are really great. I love email, and I'm sure people who use it a lot like Facebook, and Twitter, and all that other stuff that's out there. It's great to be able to find information on the Internet with a few keystrokes, too. However, all these things have their place, a certain niche, in the world of communications. The sad thing, to me, is that voice communication, which is often necessary, or preferred, has been relegated to the back burner. In the old days, before all this technology, when you called someone, you could pretty much guarantee they would answer their phone, even if it meant scrambling out of the bathtub, or bed. Now, when everyone has a phone in their pocket, it seems more often than not, your call goes to voicemail, or is simply not answered at all. (Never mind, the hassle of getting "butt calls" or the occasionally completed connection being dropped.) I'm afraid the array of communication choices is simply too much for a human being to handle. We are overwhelmed by the number of people or organizations that want to communicate with us, or that we want to communicate with. Hence, the people you see everywhere with some little black gadget glued to their hands, their ears, or their eyes while they try to perform otherwise simple daily tasks, like driving, or checking out at the grocery store, or minding their kids. The technology itself has become more important than people.

I read an account of how the Israeli Mossad carried out an assassination of one of their enemies by implanting a powerful explosive device in the guys cellphone and then blowing his head off when they called his phone number. Makes you stop and think doesn't it?

I'm in awe of what Claire and his team have accomplished over all these years (not to mention that he's still at it). "Back in the day" there were a lot of old-timers (that is, about 90% of the department) who thought computers were a big waste of money that they would prefer be spent on more familiar gadgets.

I never answer my cell phone by putting it up to my ear. I have decided to let calls go to voice mail, or ignore them, like everyone I call seems to do. Then, I call them back later (if at all) on my land line. :)

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